Friday, February 24, 2006

More theorizing on which stars and craftsmen stand to gain the most future play from this soon-to-end awards season. Awards season lasts but three months. Its after-effects can linger for years. After reading this rundown, come back and share your thoughts on the possible futures for this year's golden crowd.

18 comments:

Well I wouldn't say anyone will care about Amy Adams much after this year, but Howard and Haggis deserve to be at the top of the list. All Strathairn's nod did was make people say "oh yeah, he is and has always been a great actor, hasn't he?" He'll go back to business as usual, but Howard will shoot straight to the top and Haggis will become a comodity, especially as a writer.

I loved this feature, but I hated that Paul Haggis topped your list. I really really really disliked Crash. I'm not sure why. Just seeing all those great actors have to spew that dreck from their mouths for 2 hours had me gagging. And I was not at all a fan of the "little girl is OK!" moment. If she'd just died, then that moment would've had meaning. But no. Not in Haggis' world would anyone want that. I enjoyed Terrence Howard a lot, though... must see Hustle & Flow.

I too like the Ledger/Penn comparison... although I think the Brando thing does make a lot of sense since he was about Heath's age when he got his first oscar nomination, and he was similarly dismissed for the win even though the perf was amazing. I think he should've been higher than Jake on the list, though... like you said, BBM did A LOT more for Heath's career than Jake's.

Actually, come to think of it, Ledger/Penn DOES make lots of sense since the overwhelming but not necessarily justified love for Cage that year is a lot like this year and Hoffman. Good connection there.

And I fully admit that I may have misunderstood parts of Crash including the "little girl is OK!" moment. But to me, most of it just seemed like crap... including Dillon and Newton's big car crash scene... what, he just magically becomes un-racist cause she needs help? It was total melodramatic tripe... made all the worse by Haggis' overzealous direction.

But you can't deny that his is the career that will get the most benefit out of this. Four nominations in 2 years for two films - one of which won Best Picture and another that is coming an impressive second.

"Well I wouldn't say anyone will care about Amy Adams much after this year"

Well yes, when you add up M$B and Crash, Haggis is many lightyears beyond where he was 2 years ago, careerwise. From some anonymous TV guy to "the next Ron Howard". A meteoric rise (only partial sarcasm intended).

Sorry I keep hating on Haggis and Crash, but you know, sometimes you just have to vent.

I agree with adam k. Not because Haggis is unlikely to get in again, but because his contributions to films are often the weakest elements involved. At least Howard was kicking around in films for a while (Ron, not Terrence) before jumping into the oscar pantheon.

That's whay "Flag Of Our Fathers" is not in my list of MUST see films for this year (like "Da Vinci Code")Even though Eastwood is behind the camera, I expect this movie to be that kind of moral fable towards patriotism that move so many poeple except me.We already have a Ron Howard (I NEVER will swallow "A beautiful Mind" winning the Oscar), why need two of them?Does the people really buy their "by-the-numbers" out of depht and contrived, schematic films? Why?

I also have high hopes on Brian De Palma's BLACK DAHLIA, Todd Field's LITTLE CHILDREN, Steven Soderbergh's THE GOOD GERMAN, Wong kar wai's THE LADY FROM SHANGAI (if he finishes shooting the damn thing this year) and David Fincher's ZODIAC. They're all really good books and prime directors if the given material is worthwhile.